278 ATHENS. 
CHAP, serve as a mere case to inclose the sacred picture ; 
t_ T -'. . leaving only the small* apertures before men- 
tioned, for their Bog/is, or Cods, to peep through : 
but as the part beneath the silver superficies is 
not seen, they spare themselves the trouble of 
painting any thing except the, face and hands of the 
image; so that if the covering, by any accident, 
fall off, the bare wood is disclosed, instead of 
the rest of the picture. But to return to the art 
of painting among the Antient Greeks: If we 
except the pictures found in Herculaneum, 
Pompeii, and Stabia, and the few faint vestiges 
upon marble statues, we may despair of seeing 
anything so perfect as the specimens which are 
preserved upon terra cotta; whether upon facings 
intended for architecture l , or upon vases found 
Origin of in Grecian sepulchres. It is evident that these 
tmdpottery pictures are purely Grecian, because Greek 
among the ... - , .*. 
Greeks, inscriptions so often accompany them ; but it 
seems equally evident that the Greeks were 
indebted for the art to the Etruscans. The art of 
making earthenware was transported from 
Etruria into Greece. The Romans also borrowed 
this invention from the Etruscans; to whom 
(l) Painted terra cotta was sometimes used in Grecian buildings, for 
the frieze and other ornaments : of this an example will be given in a 
subsequent description of Ruins in Ejntlauria. 
